On the way up the mountain, Ren Baqian didn't pay attention to his surroundings. He quietly sat behind the empress, put his hands on her waist, and listened to her.
After meeting Qi Ziting, the empress finally explained some of the situation. Combined with what Ren Baqian knew before, he finally completed the 72 years of Dayao's history.
Back then, Ya Peng changed the imperial family's surname to Qi in remembrance of the person who single-handedly destroyed the Hao Nation and then committed suicide.
This matter naturally wasn't as simple as it seemed on the surface, and there were some other reasons that weren't known to outsiders.
Putting this aside, Ya Peng changed his name to Qi Peng.
Previously, the Hao Nation poisoned the salt underground in the Sixty Thousand Mountains, and the Qi family suffered heavy casualties. Ya Peng's family only had a seven-year-old child who survived.
The child who survived was the empress's father, Qi Yinghao.
Qi Yinghao disappeared nine years ago, and the empress succeeded the throne when she was only 16 years old.
At that time, Qi Ziting was 41 years old.
However, a year before that, something happened to Qi Ziting.
At that time, Qi Ziting was the Protector General of the Northeast and the fifth most powerful expert in the world. He was famous for his ruthlessness and bloodthirstiness.
Qi Ziting's reputation in the Yun Nation could be said to stop children from crying at night due to his outstanding military exploits.
Qi Ziting's prestige among the people of Dayao wasn't low either.
However, both success and failure were due to Xiao He. It was precisely because of his bloodthirsty nature that he was extremely prominent as a general in charge of guarding a region. However, if he were to become the emperor of a nation, with his temperament, it would not take long for Dayao to be filled with complaints.
In fact, many of the generals and soldiers in the Protectorate of the Northeast were already complaining under the pressure of Qi Ziting.
However, Qi Ziting still went his own way and blindly suppressed them.
It was under these circumstances that Qi Yinghao chose the empress as the next emperor.
What happened next was what Ren Baqian heard.
Qi Ziting took advantage of Qi Yinghao's birthday celebration to return to the palace and attempted to assassinate the emperor on the night of the banquet. His legs were chopped off on the spot.
Qi Yinghao didn't kill him and only drove him back to the Sixty Thousand Mountains.
The next year, Qi Yinghao disappeared, and the empress succeeded the throne as a woman.
The empress spoke to Ren Baqian and said faintly, "Actually, my brother treated me well when I was little and would always bring me some interesting things."
"I think he also has feelings for His Majesty." Ren Baqian thought about Qi Ziting's performance just now and whispered behind the empress. His hands moved from the empress's waist to her abdomen, as if he was hugging her.
The Empress's body stiffened. She sighed softly and did not speak again. It could be seen that even though the empress was resolute when she spoke just now, her inner feelings were still extremely complicated. As a result, she didn't have much of a reaction to Ren Baqian's bold move.
After all, Qi Ziting was her only relative.
However, her identity and the things that Qi Ziting had done made her unable to let go of certain things.
It wasn't convenient for Ren Baqian to interrupt such a matter.
Before the empress and her entourage arrived at the village, they saw thousands of people, young and old, waiting outside the village.
The stronghold was located in front of Mount Jade Dragon and had a population of three to four thousand. It was considered the largest stronghold within a few hundred kilometers.
After all, it was the ancestral land of the royal family. Even though it was almost destroyed back then, it had developed again after a few decades.
"Greetings, Your Majesty!" Everyone cupped their fists and greeted the Water Empress.
Even the ignorant children imitated the actions of the adults and looked at the empress curiously.
The empress searched the crowd for a while and found some familiar figures. She had seen them when she came here when she was young.
Although a long time had passed, she still remembered a lot of things.
However, she didn't say much and just looked at those people one by one. Some of the people in the crowd looked excited. Even though the empress's gaze only lingered on them for a moment.
This proved that the empress still remembered them.
The empress raised her head. The complicated expression that she had when she spoke to Ren Baqian just now had disappeared without a trace, and she regained her calmness.
Ren Baqian felt that this might be the empress's habitual expression.
When she was young, she used this expression to give people a sense of distance and hide the uneasiness and nervousness in her heart at the same time.
Now, this expression had become a habit.
The empress said, "There are so many people here, so let's skip the formalities and enter the village."
After everyone entered the village, the winged cavalry fell behind while the empress rode Qi Shui at the front. At the innermost part of the village, there were three ordinary-looking stone houses with their doors wide open.
The empress got off her mount and walked into the innermost room. There were many odd-looking stones on the table.
"Is this the room that Your Majesty used to live in?" Ren Baqian sized up the room. It was very high and was about four meters tall. There was a wooden bed, a table, a few chairs, and a cabinet inside. Other than these, there was nothing else.
The room didn't look like it was occupied, but it was very clean. Qi Ziting must have gotten someone to clean it.
"I lived here for half a year." The empress picked up a monkey-shaped stone from the table and played with it. "I saw this in the mountains and found it interesting, so I picked it up. I didn't expect it to still be here after so many years."
"Your Majesty actually picked up a heart-shaped stone!" Ren Baqian picked up a stone and laughed. In Dayao, this kind of heart-shaped stone didn't have the same meaning as it did on Earth. He didn't expect the empress to have collected one.
The empress had a strange look on her face. She hesitated for a while and said embarrassedly, "When I was young, I thought this looked like a butt!"
"Cough, cough!" Ren Baqian almost choked on his saliva.
Very quickly, Ren Baqian discovered something new. He actually found a pair of small hammers in the corner of the wall. The heads of the hammers were made of animal bones and the handles were made of wood. The hammers were probably only held by a six or seven-year-old child.
He didn't see this pair of hammers because they were blocked by a chair.
"This pair of hammers also belongs to Your Majesty?"
"My elder brother uses a pair of hammers. I have admired him since I was young and pestered him to teach me a set of hammer techniques," the empress said.
"Unfortunately, I can't use hammers anymore." A voice came from outside the door.
The walking stick made a clattering sound as it hit the ground.
Qi Ziting wanted to come in with his walking stick, but was stopped by the winged cavalry. His face immediately darkened and said, "Gong Zheng, you are really bold to even stop me!"
"Let him in," the empress said.
Since the empress had spoken, no one stopped him. Gong Zheng cupped his fists at Qi Ziting and retreated to the side.
Qi Ziting entered the house with his walking stick and looked at the empress. "This house has been looked after for so many years. When I heard that you were coming, I got someone to clean it up. You came back just in time. A few days ago, they hunted a flower camel. You won't be able to eat it in the palace, so you can have a feast tonight. "
The empress turned to look at him and said, "Thank you, Elder Brother."
"I will get someone to call you when the time comes." Qi Ziting looked at Ren Baqian and said, "For Xiao Ya's sake, you can come as well!"
After Qi Ziting left, Ren Baqian smiled and said, "Xiao Ya?"
The empress was a little embarrassed. No one had mentioned this name for many years, and she didn't expect him to hear it now.
"It's the meaning of prosperity, right? The previous emperor was rather scholarly! "Ren Baqian said.
The empress snorted and didn't say that she was actually called Xiao Ya because her teeth were small and the gap between her incisors was big. That was why she got this nickname.
If Ren Baqian knew about this, she didn't know what he would say.
"Are you going to see … Mother tomorrow?" Ren Baqian's words lingered in his mouth before he said those two words.
After all, he was a good young man of the New Era. Although he was used to calling her Your Majesty, he still wasn't used to calling her Mother.
"Our marriage has been decided, so it's not inappropriate for you to call me Mother," the empress said when she noticed that Ren Baqian had a pause in his speech.
Ren Baqian looked around the house and saw that there was only one bed. He laughed and said, "Previously, Your Majesty said that I can't leave your side when we are in the village. This is the only bed here. Are we going to share the same bed tonight?"
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